Now we know...or do we?

[Katie]

LONDON, England -- It's a question that has baffled scientists, academics and pub bores through the ages: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now a team made up of a geneticist, philosopher and chicken farmer claim to have found an answer. It was the egg.

Put simply, the reason is down to the fact that genetic material does not change during an animal's life.

Therefore the first bird that evolved into what we would call a chicken, probably in prehistoric times, must have first existed as an embryo inside an egg.

Professor John Brookfield, a specialist in evolutionary genetics at the University of Nottingham, told the UK Press Association the pecking order was clear.

The living organism inside the eggshell would have had the same DNA as the chicken it would develop into, he said.

"Therefore, the first living thing which we could say unequivocally was a member of the species would be this first egg," he added. "So, I would conclude that the egg came first."

The same conclusion was reached by his fellow "eggsperts" Professor David Papineau, of King's College London, and poultry farmer Charles Bourns.

Mr Papineau, an expert in the philosophy of science, agreed that the first chicken came from an egg and that proves there were chicken eggs before chickens.

He told PA people were mistaken if they argued that the mutant egg belonged to the "non-chicken" bird parents.

"I would argue it is a chicken egg if it has a chicken in it," he said.

"If a kangaroo laid an egg from which an ostrich hatched, that would surely be an ostrich egg, not a kangaroo egg."

Bourns, chairman of trade body Great British Chicken, said he was also firmly in the pro-egg camp.

He said: "Eggs were around long before the first chicken arrived. Of course, they may not have been chicken eggs as we see them today, but they were eggs."

The debate, which may come as a relief to those with argumentative relatives, was organized by Disney to promote the release of the film "Chicken Little" on DVD.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Takes marketing to a new level.

so....what do you guys think? are these scientists loony? Which came first?

[iris]

MYSTERY SOLVED!

(Actually, I remember my poultry science chums coming up with this exact explanation over beer one night in a pub. Why didn't THAT make the news?)

"If a kangaroo laid an egg from which an ostrich hatched, that would surely be an ostrich egg, not a kangaroo egg."

[Jo Dawn]

So uh... What sat on the egg to HATCH it?

I actually disagree. I think the chicken came first.

[iris]

Why's that, Jo Dawn?

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Jo Dawn

So uh... What sat on the egg to HATCH it?

Who sat on the egg is the ancestor of the modern chicken. So therefore the egg came first.

And ya know what..I've been saying that for years... something had to have evolved into the chicken so it was the egg that came first.

[iris]

From my point of view as a know-it-all, who, needless to say, knows everything about chickens, eggs, and their chronological relationship (and who knows that one need not say something that is needless to say, but also that "needless to say" is used as a rhetorical excuse to state the obvious and sound smart), I maintain that the chicken is, in fact, the same as the egg. Therefore the question is moot, and we can all move on. I will now laugh at the countless intelligent life forms who have pondered upon this question throughout the ages. Ha ha.

[Jester]

This could get into really shakey situations. I as a creationist say that the Chicken came first due to the fact that everything, man, woman, dog, tree, even the planet was created with age. Some one ascribing to evolution would say the egg, because it evolved from a smaller single cell to a more complex a organism that eventually laid eggs which contained a remenent of a pst evolutionary step. It's a slippery slop, if not handled with care.

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Does it matter?

[Katie]

Originally Posted by Ryona

Does it matter?

I suppose not...Ijust thought it would give us something interesting to debate that was less polarizing than a turtle thing

I'm not complaining about the topic. I just personaly am not concern with which came first. But that's just me.

In any case, it's still tricky to answer considering that evolution is such a slow process, how can we judge when I dinosaur is no longer a dinosaur and has become a chicken? It's not like a dinosaur lays an egg and out comes a chicken.
When the creature is not really much of a dinosaur anymore, but not really a chicken yet, what do you call it?

See, the question can't be answered because transitioning from one thing to another is gradual. Not instant.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Ryona

When the creature is not really much of a dinosaur anymore, but not really a chicken yet, what do you call it?

Well.. Chickens evolved from the Asian Junglefowl which is still around to this day...

Soo... ancestry of chicken goes single celled organism - amphibious creature - T.Rex - Gallus Gallus (Asian Junglefowl) - Chicken

[Ra]

Chickens? Eggs? Please, don't make me laugh.

It was Dorathy the Dinosaur who came first, and you all know it

Seriously, chickens are chickens, eggs are eggs, and eggs have been around a long time before chickens evolved. So...yeah, I'm putting my money on the egg ^_^;

[iris]

Eggs were not around before chickens. But neither were chickens around before eggs. But pods were around before peas, just to be clear.

[Dr. Doom]

Eggs were around before chicken, in my opinion. If you follow evolution, then there were reptiles if not fish or other aquatic creatures that everything else evolved from that were laying eggs bazillions of years before the first chicken showed up.

[iris]

This question applies specifically to chicken eggs.

/serious

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

I prefer not to think about which one came first. However, I love the taste of either one, and sometimes fantasize about eating either chicken or eggs in massive quantities.

I would rather not eat both at once, though. I've been there and... well... it could've been a better experience.

[iris]

Chicken balut.
If you don't know, you don't want to know. --official slogan

Now don't think about that. Just look at the cute chickies.

[Storm Wolf]

Originally Posted by Ryona

I'm not complaining about the topic. I just personaly am not concern with which came first. But that's just me.

In any case, it's still tricky to answer considering that evolution is such a slow process, how can we judge when I dinosaur is no longer a dinosaur and has become a chicken? It's not like a dinosaur lays an egg and out comes a chicken.

See, the question can't be answered because transitioning from one thing to another is gradual. Not instant.

I totally agree, Ryo! You know what....I couldn't have said it better myself either.
I don't think this answer can ever truly be answered because the process of becoming a "chicken" takes thousands of years.

But....when I think of it...I guess the egg would come first... *shrugs*

How long has the chicken....well...been a chicken?

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Storm Wolf

How long has the chicken....well...been a chicken?

The chicken evolved from the Asian Wildfowl about 5000 years ago

[OA]

Heres the way i see it.

Eggs have been around for a LONG time, long before what we call chickens came about. Now, through the slow process of evolution, chicken-like animals began to appear and began laying eggs that hatched into (again over long periods of time) even more modernly chicken-like animals. Eventually, though, out pops what we consider to be a modern chicken, which then proceeds to lay eggs, etc. etc....so you see, the modern chicken came first, out of non-modern chicken eggs. (it was just a slip of genes (mutations) in the non-chicken egg that created our beloved chicken)